Solar power fuels electric-car charging stations

Monday

Nov 21, 2011 at 12:01 AMNov 21, 2011 at 12:32 PM

EUSTIS, Fla. - Bill Ferree's plan to use solar energy to charge electric vehicles in Florida is getting its day in the sun. Ferree, 67, and his two partners in a company named WattNext installed a solar-powered station a month ago in Eustis.

EUSTIS, Fla. — Bill Ferree’s plan to use solar energy to charge electric vehicles in Florida is getting its day in the sun.

Ferree, 67, and his two partners in a company named WattNext installed a solar-powered station a month ago in Eustis.

In the next couple of months, WattNext — which has already put in ChargePoint stations for electric cars in and around Eustis — will branch out to Orlando and nearby Sanford and Winter Park.

Ferree also wants to develop shaded structures called “WattTrees” that provide shade while generating electricity from solar panels attached to the roof. A prototype called a RubeStation exists in Eustis.

“Florida is the Sunshine State,” he said. “The weather may not always be perfect, but it’s pretty darn good here.”

Solar power isn’t new to Florida, and other companies are claiming stakes in the industry.

Lake County, Fla., commissioners in February unanimously approved Blue Chip Energy’s plan to build a 40-megawatt plant in a 200-acre cow pasture. It soon could become Florida’s largest solar-energy farm, producing enough power for 8,000 homes.

Construction began in April on a 6-megawatt solar array at the Orlando Utilities Commission’s Curtis Stanton Energy Center east of Orlando.

Ferree said power generation through solar panels will help “eliminate a significant chunk of the state’s demand for electricity and the financial drain on the economy.”

He says WattNext’s future is in electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Electric cars are cleaner and much cheaper to fuel over time, Ferree said. “However, there needs to be an infrastructure in place, and we are ready to provide that,” he said.

WattNext, founded in 2009, has been at the forefront of solar-energy distribution for powering electric vehicles.

It is the first for-profit spinoff from Lake County’s nonprofit environmental-technology business incubator, RubeLab.

WattNext, under the name Sunlight Power Systems, installed the RubeStation in downtown Eustis in 2009. It’s a prototype of an electric-car-charging station that resembles a shelter with benches. The cost: $30,000.

Ferree is working on developing a cheaper version.

Electric-car owners can drive into one of three charging bays beside the RubeStation, plug in and recharge their car batteries free. For example, the Nissan Leaf, which has a 24-kilowatt-hour battery pack, takes about eight hours to recharge. A fully charged electric car battery can take a car as far as 100 miles.

Ferree said he envisions cheaper alternatives to the RubeStation called “WattTree Groves” that can be installed in parking lots and charge car owners a premium for shaded spots, which provide car owners a cooler vehicle after a day under the Florida sun.